Trip--October, 2010-the big 4-0!! - Updated 4/5 - Baby Boy is Born! - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Until next week—I’ll report on the race and what tickets I plan to buy (there’s a whole convoluted logic I’ve got working involving Amex cards, rewards, future trips, palm readers, stars aligning, and magic beans).
I almost forgot, if you're interested (and why wouldn't you be, I'm clearly fascinating!!) you can track the race results on sunday at www.ironmanlonestar.com, I'm race number 1444, starting at 8:15 central time.
Congrats on getting BWV! And good luck in your race! I'm tempted just to eat in your room that night, if you're not landing until 8:30, you won't be to the hotel most likely until 10 PM!
Hi Kim! I remember you! As soon as you mentioned the word "marathon" I remembered reading your previous tr, because.... you used the expression "code brown" and I about died laughing. I even read it to my husband, and to this day it is one of our stock phrases. I like your writing style - the tone is very conversational, and you are funny! I'm glad you're back and writing another tr. Good luck with your race this weekend. Remember, if your feet hurt, it's because you're kicking butt! Looking forward to future updates and more stories about Mr. J's hats.
Hi Kim! I remember you! As soon as you mentioned the word "marathon" I remembered reading your previous tr, because.... you used the expression "code brown" and I about died laughing. I even read it to my husband, and to this day it is one of our stock phrases. I like your writing style - the tone is very conversational, and you are funny! I'm glad you're back and writing another tr. Good luck with your race this weekend. Remember, if your feet hurt, it's because you're kicking butt! Looking forward to future updates and more stories about Mr. J's hats.
Just wait for the Code Brown stories!! Mr. J has (oh, its so sad...) lactose intolerance with hints of IBS. Normal people would simply stop eating dairy products and things with whey in them and super oily foods so that they don't have to make urgent trips to potentially hazardous public restrooms. Not Mr. J. He grew up on a dairy farm and milk and ice cream are pretty much staples of his diet. Consequently, I know every public restroom in a 50 mile radius. I've spent more time waiting outside the men's room at Lowes/Target/Kroger/the mall than I have waiting in the checkout lines. For heaven's sakes, I've even missed Illuminations because Mr. J wanted to eat ice cream on the Boardwalk.
Perhaps I'll add a daily restroom review to my trip report...you know, rank cleanliness, air quality, lighting, paper products, lines, etc. (get it, he's being flushed....)
Just wait for the Code Brown stories!! Mr. J has (oh, its so sad...) lactose intolerance with hints of IBS. Normal people would simply stop eating dairy products and things with whey in them and super oily foods so that they don't have to make urgent trips to potentially hazardous public restrooms. Not Mr. J. He grew up on a dairy farm and milk and ice cream are pretty much staples of his diet. Consequently, I know every public restroom in a 50 mile radius. I've spent more time waiting outside the men's room at Lowes/Target/Kroger/the mall than I have waiting in the checkout lines. For heaven's sakes, I've even missed Illuminations because Mr. J wanted to eat ice cream on the Boardwalk.
Perhaps I'll add a daily restroom review to my trip report...you know, rank cleanliness, air quality, lighting, paper products, lines, etc. (get it, he's being flushed....)
LMAO. DH Paul has lactose intolerance and IBS (probably why I found "code brown" so funny)! He NEVER remembers to take lactaid when enjoying ice cream or pizza or..... fill in the blank.
I think a daily restroom review would definitely be in order, here! You could use a "flush" rating. You know, 5 flushes for a high quality restroom vs. 1 flush for - I wouldn't go in there if I were you.
I think a daily restroom review would definitely be in order, here! You could use a "flush" rating. You know, 5 flushes for a high quality restroom vs. 1 flush for - I wouldn't go in there if I were you.[/QUOTE]
You are so on!! Ratings will evaluate cleanliness, temperature, lighting (for makeup, duh!!), mirror quality (the ones that make you look skinny are 5+ flushes), paper availability, handdryer status (is it that neato torpedo blade air blower thing or the crappy wave your hand in front of the paper dispenser that can't see you thing?), and finally, smell.
Perhaps I'll even take pics. In the meantime, check out one of my favorite bloggers: itakephotosinthebathroom.blogspot.com
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I made decision about the first night dinner (the one in which I hope to arrive not smelling like a locker room or a wet dog--which reminds me of a sort of bathroom related thing tying into our restroom reviews and triathlon...I bet you didn't know that we all, and I mean all of us, pee in our wetsuits while waiting to start the race. And some of us pee while riding our bikes during the race so as not to lose valuable time at portopotties...gross I know, and one more reason I reallly hope I have time to shower before I get on the plane in October!! also a reminder to never touch a triathletes bike saddle...I give roadside peeing a 5 flushes review for scenery, but 1 flush for privacy). Anyway, I looked more closely over Kouzzina's menu and when I thought about it decided that while we love Greek/Middle Eastern/Med food, it is also the one food done really really well here in Detroit. I can get pretty much everything on that menu for cheap cheap in tons of resaurants here and I suspect it might be better. What can't we get in Detroit? Fish. Well, you can, but its not especially fresh unless they caught in in Lake Erie what with the nuclear power plant and such nearby, I think Flying Fish might do seafood better than we do at home. So, I have a 9:55 ressie at Flying Fish on our first night.
Tickets are the next thing, and as promised I've beens plotting. Under normal circumstances I would prefer to have a 10 day hopper that never expires. I would probably even spring for the plus options, just in case. But I have a ticket with plus options from like 5 years ago and don't really need those now, however, Mr. J doesn't have one and I think we should go to a water park in October. Because I want to. (another aside, that reminds me of the reserved area in water parks you can rent with chairs and umbrellas and stuff--wondering if I would prefer that...you know, like a velvet rope that keeps the riff raff out...or is it really just another expense. I mean, how much riff raff do you find at Disney?) Okay, so those tickets are like $500 something and I just get all hand-wringy at the $1000 I have to spend all at once to get them.
So here's the plotting part. Just as i was thinking about this, I got an AmEx offer in the mail for their Blue Sky card. I've done my research and turned in my offer, but haven't used it yet. I'm hoping one of you out there can tell me if I'm thinking straight about this. So, the blue sky thing gives you credits toward travel purchases, not frequent flier miles, actual credit on your statement. For spending $7500 you get $100 travel credit that you can use to pay your bill when you buy a hotel or plane ticket or rental car or whatever it is that is travel related. That's a better rate of return than the Disney Visa, but the rub is that there is no partial credit--you have to spend the full $7500 to get the full $100 and you have to buy the travel first, then ask for the credit to be applied. They also don't apply partial credit, so if you got a plane ticket for $175 and asked to apply your travel credit to cover the whole thing, they would take $200 in credits away from you.
But it still sounds like a good deal when I tally up some other travel that we do. And, and this is where the tickets come in, if you spend $500 in the first 60 days of having the card, you get $300 in credits as a bonus. Plus you don't pay interest on purchases for the first year. So my thought is to buy the Disney tickets for $1000, get the $300 credit, apply the credit to the plane tickets I'll be buying later and take a couple of months to pay the tickets off as they won't be adding interest to that purchase. If the card works the way they say it does and I get a credit applied to my plane tickets I would consider switching my Disney Visa stuff to AmEx. Mr. J would keep his Visa for the disney points and I would use the AmEx. That way we would get points for travel not to Disney also.
I know, who would travel anywhere but Disney?!
If you have any thoughts about the Blue Sky AmEx I'd love to hear them. I'm planning to do all of this within the week.
Since you've read this far, I'll get to the good stuff now. You also know that the national championship race that is the lead in to the Disney trip in October is pretty important, and that my first race of the season was yesterday. This sort of sets the tone for October, what my training will look like, what I need to work on, etc. Well, it was good. I didn't pee on the bike either. It was hot, windy, hot, sunny, and f'ing hot. The swim course was long, which happens (they aren't really ever correct, you try measuring 1.2 miles in the open water and drop anchors and bouys in exact locations, you'll be off by a bunch too), the ride was windy, and did I mention hot? The run was sunny, hot, and sunburning but fast and I'm really pleased with my performance. The pro field was awesome to see, and tons of elite amatuers showed up too, which pushes me back in the standings a bit, although my run was ranked in the top 10 in my division. When I actually become a better bike rider I'll have this thing in the bag! So that's what I work on for October, the bike. And the only way to do that is Time In The Saddle (the acronym is great, isn't it). Mr. J isn't thrilled though..Time In The Saddle means sore lady bits, if you get my meaning...
Glad to hear you did well! Can't you get some kind of cushiony seat to help with those sore lady bits?
I'm glad to see you back on here. I always loved reading your trip reports.
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with your race! Congrats on BWV! 
I'm very curious to try Kouzzina's for ourselves to decide if it will be a must do or not.
(get it, he's being flushed....)
Stefanie gets a nervous stomach when she is excited so we've visited quite a few restrooms ourselves.
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